MacKenzie Avenue in the suburb of Woolston, Christchurch

MacKenzie Ave in Woolston – Formerly Parkes Street. Named after either Sir Harry Smith Parkes (1828- 1885) or his cousin, Horatio John Parkes Horatio Parkes was a cousin of Sir Harry Parkes, a Chinese-based British diplomat, who had purchased Rural Section 37, a land order of 50 acres in “Heathcote, near Ferry Road”. Horatio Parkes received a regular remittance from his cousin and lived on a section of his cousin’s land called The Grange. In 1895 the executors of Sir Harry’s will sold his land to the Liberal Government for a workers’ settlement, Roimata. Parkes Street was formed in 1895. First appears in street directories in 1898 and was taken over by the council as a public street in 1899. Re-named Mackenzie Avenue on 24 May 1926 when 21 streets were renamed. [Residents of Parkes Street had protested against the name of the street being changed to Barnsley Street and suggesting the name of McKenzie Street. The name was changed to Mackenzie Avenue instead.]

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Horatio Parkes came out to New Zealand on the George Seymour and lived a quiet life on the property owned by his cousin or Harry Parkes was possibly his uncle. He was paid an income by his cousin/uncle so he didn’t have to work. The various news articles in Papers Past state that Harry Parkes was Horatio’s uncle but their ages are fairly close so it is more likely that they were cousins. Harry Parkes lost his parents at a very young age and went to live with his uncle which would mean that Harry and Horatio would have been bought as brothers. After Harry died in 1885 his land in Christchurch was sold to the government minus a small amount of land for Horatio to continue to live on. Note Horatio was what was known as a remittance man and he is even described as this in Papers Past. In 1897 Horatio was charged with murder after killing another man with an axe. The charges were changed to manslaughter but were eventually dropped.

Lots of information on Papers Past and I obviously got sidetracked by Horatio Parkes. In 1895 there were tenders for the formation of Parkes St and there was discussion about the forming the road in 1896 and 1898. In 1902 there were complaints about cattle damaging the footpaths on the street. The block of land was called Roimata Settlement and it was also described as a Crown Settlement. In 1907 there were complaints about a piggery on the street. In 1926 the new name suggested for the street was Barnsley St and in the same year it was changed to MacKenzie Ave. In 1934 the house belonging to the mayor D G Sullivan was destroyed by fire. Lots of ads plus birth and death notices in Papers Past. I even managed to find a couple of articles useful for my family tree research.

The houses on this street cover every decade from 1890 to 2022. Most houses were built between 1950s and 1970s but there were also a large number built in 1910s and 1920s. Most houses are in very good condition but much of the road is a mess at the moment because of roadworks. I spoke with a local to ask how the residents are able to access their houses but apparently they can’t and they have to park further down the road and walk to their houses. Can’t be much fun if you have to cart groceries or if you are an older person. The houses near the river end of the road are on land that is raised above the road. On the Ensors Road end of the street there is a church for the Latter Days Saints. In the late 1960s and early 1970s I knew this street really well as I had friends who lived on the street. I did like many of the houses on this street.